The challenge: more aircraft work, less firefighting
A major MRO at an airport ranked among the top five globally for international traffic needed to reduce aircraft check turnaround time, release capacity for revenue work and reduce daily firefighting across Base Maintenance, Line Maintenance and component shops.
The challenge extended beyond the aircraft task itself. Materials, tooling, equipment, information and supporting work had to be ready in the right sequence for technicians to keep value-adding work moving.
Engagement at a glance
30%
Reduction in turnaround time on the flagship long-haul C-check pilot line.
87%
A-check on-time hit rate over the four-month period reported.
Three-day visibility
Rolling readiness windows for materials, tooling, people and equipment.
What Duggan did
Duggan designed end-to-end value streams for aircraft checks and their support functions. Product families defined the work to be managed, while Guaranteed Turnaround Times (GTTs) established commitments for support shops.
The operating design connected visual, takt-based execution with normal and abnormal flow and standard responses. A formal feedback cycle ensured that lessons from disruptions informed the design of the next check.
Implementation: readiness, execution and feedback
Pre-flight and launch
“I-minus” clean-start readiness brought materials, tooling, equipment and information into place before execution. Integration events were locked to the required sequence so the check could start with the right inputs.
Visible execution
Pitch boards showed the work by area, day and shift. Rolling three-day windows connected readiness for material, tooling, people and equipment. Visual signals triggered supporting shops against their GTT commitments.
A flow-disruption system
Standard work and root-cause analysis were connected through visible forms and boards. Weekly Pareto reviews identified recurring disruption patterns, with containment plans and corrective actions feeding back into subsequent checks.
Results across aircraft checks and support shops
Flagship long-haul C-checks
The pilot line achieved a 30% reduction in turnaround time. Preloaded materials, mobile crib kitting, point-of-use tooling and standard and abnormal workflows supported the improvement.
Flagship long-haul A-checks
The A-check program targeted a 25% turnaround-time reduction and moved into sustainment. The on-time hit rate was 87% over the preceding four months; across the full period since Value Stream Mapping, 59% of checks were on target.
Supporting shop capacity
Safety Equipment and Brakes/Wheel shops planned capacity increases and quantified productivity gains to support aircraft flow. Their work was connected to the aircraft check through readiness signals and turnaround commitments.
Why it worked
A single operating system made status obvious, sequencing clear and support-shop commitments visible. Technicians could keep value-adding work flowing while standard responses addressed disruptions at their source.
The readiness process, execution boards and feedback loop worked together: the operation could see what was required, recognize what was missing and use what it learned to strengthen the next check.